| Show NEWS FROM EGYPT Situ situated atod on the western shore of the suez canal where this opens its mouth into the mediterranean and on a narrow strip of land which separates the lake from the sea is port said it owes its ite existence entirely to the canal and has already grown to a city of inhabitants of which are foreigners of various nationalities these carry car ary on an immense business second probably to no place in egypt except alexandria the german austrian russian italian and other steamboat companies have here establishments of their own and numerous new buildings show that the city has what we at home would call a boom A traveler going this way for the first time will naturally natura fl take a deep interest in this first oriental place he touches on his rod As soon as the steamer has dropped anchor ahe runners from the hotels are on board and a traveler unacquainted quain ted with the place can do no better thin trust himself and his belongings into the hands of one of them an arab will then bring your lue luggage gage into a boat you follow and in five minutes you are on shore you are first conveyed to the passport office the rule here is to take your passport and send it to the consul at the place of your destination but the officers are very courteous and you can generally pass them by simply giving them your ur name and place of destination chis this is however only at the option of the officers and a traveler in these parts of the world must always come wilh a passport is as otherwise very unpleasant may follow from the passport office the way goes to the so called douane or custom house the gentlemen here are generally very particular at least wh ahn n a traveler appears rs with large trunks and the ate larger r these are the greater the suspicion tobacco i guns pistols etc are always sought after but if your luggage is is not very bulky half a franc by way of will often pass it without examination at all having settled this business you are at liberty to Labout about town and enjoy the ludicrous scenes that everywhere present resent themselves to your wondering wonders ng eye the city is not large the streets being very narrow as compared to those of the western cities of america people are crowded together within a very small compass the principal street runs from the harbor by the hotel continental on both sides this street has european stores where articles can be had at high prices fifteen minutes walk will take you to the arabian part of the city where a number of huts are irregularly thrown about round a mosque a turkish temple if you evince any desire to enter this building you will in an astonishingly short space of time find yourself surrounded by half a dozen brown skinned fellows who explain to fotr that fou must take your shoes off your reet feet before entering hav i ing complied with this modest request you may enter and view the interior which however at this place is hardly worth the removal of the shoes more interest have the human dwelling places in dirth hovels on lairs of straw you wall V m find men women and chil children dien sleeping batin eating smoking playing cha chatting ing or w whatever alever else b happeny a p pens to be their particular business it at the time the men are dressed in long loose dresses in shape resembling night gowns owns more than anything else these these long dresses are made ma 16 of different colors some are blue others white or red or yellow or black but all a have one common ground color it seems viz dirt dirl over this those that are better off throw apiece a piece of clothing answering to the european coat this can also consist of almost anything an old jacket thrown off by sailor a horse blanket a piece of df calico a gunnysack gunny sack with holes in for abr the head and the arms all answer the purpose of a coat on their theft heads they wear the well kno knon turban consisting of a piece of cloth several feet conf long wrapped round their heads on their air feet they have generally nothing except dirt bw but this is often thick enough to answer all purposes of a common sized american leather boot the women are dressed very muco much like the men including the foot fod covering but they veil themselves very closely leaving only the eyes and a small part of tap nose espos expos exposed to view they are very fond of or laments na ments it seems in the shape of rings which cover their fingers saw and toes their children of course are ar all but naked beggars meet you at every ahmo hmo steg you take naked little children bok out their hands and ask for baw sch aach iwah boys take hold of your yoo feet and want to shine your shoes no matter how clean thoy they are old men crumpled up in a little straw ask you for and even the european store keepers ers seemed to have ha ye been seized wib the general spirit of begging W r they run out of their stores on botn both sides and ask you to come in sta nd buy this and that of them it has been recommended b by tra travelers elers w 0 kick all this host of lg beggars away like dogs but I 1 have found that a unkindness is necessary I 1 can cbs with the them DIP or go as if I 1 heard the theatt no not or give a penny just as I 1 feffe an and everybody seems to be pl pleased they smile when they meet 02 and call me landsman as if thoy they had known me for a long time A few hours walk among the aw n tives will suffice for any ordin ordinal VV traveler and he will no doubts doubt a feeling of gratitude think of b own home A latter day bainte fut least will feel grateful for the e art ava leges he enjoys and he will glow his heavenly father for the ineal me that has cast his lot in the beautel baauw valleys of the mountains for evaa eve if he does not believe in the calvinistic doctrine of predestination yet he must own that it was by vy 00 merit of his own that he was not ag born among a people who live with diw out the light of the gospel B must feel and this with humia hat god has been merciful towards hl him the european euro ean population of port aid id bonsu consisting ing of some souls 18 w a true com of na tonalities the french seem to be preponderating but england wy Y germany austria turkey greece and sweden all are am here resented presented business and noth S else has thrown them together wis his gathering place is therefore together ther different from utah the he saints gather because they are of one faith and because they wish to 0 o enjoy the fellowship of brethren alere WB people gather carrying each 1118 te own religion with him or per ps more correctly said having no ligion at all the only doctrine people here seem to have in common Is ia the mammon religion the is that drinking garn gam au t 1 and swearing are the order of we he day y here is no such thing as sunday aday stores and places of amuse nt are more frequented on that di y than on any other and I 1 fear ill a the civilization which the RIN to here carry to the natives Is 18 of a very low kind it has y taught the natives to swear hohwy Ao tribly if nothing else and they dwar wear in in english and in french and tt I 1 italian their own langu language gge being destitute of any terms fit for laa Q purpose it seems to me that tha ante Chilst christians ians here ought to blush crimson when they hear their zv SS ft tive languages used by the aves 10 les for NIT that Purpose purpose but they not all the more A traveler tea veler having I 1 taken in the y will probably bend his way to ole vw harbor and take a walk along the w shore perhaps chaps also pick up some 8 which which are very numerous in TO e sand two massive piers here act his attention both erecter in th order ewt to protect t the harbor against le 10 masses of mud which are carried y the river nile into the sea and y tile the tide and currents driven Ws east one of these piers is n low the other 2250 metres long the aay 7 are built of what may be called tf loial al rock consisting of hydraulic aso and desert aa sand n d blocks atch ken ten cubic m metres e tres in size were ased lift in these structures the temperature here at this time arf ia the A year is best termed a very twe t summer temperature the ga are a little hot and the nights al 01 plies flies and mosquitoes are as gy las aa they need to be in a well ted community at the jae of writing no less than five T ikuo aci u t bites have ve left their rosy rossy aers 11 e r on my face and hands 1 I 1 wag never ever a great admirer of flies files or n and I 1 am probably ous guilty y of having killed more w mos anao 08 in my days ya than any y other othe arut la 16 Z flying or otherwise moving 1 l these ois here in elget egypt y ve such an infernal way about a ut ettl you on do not see them unless cna do nothing else than sit and atch ca for them a business that is terome even if it were a brae th mone C one nor do they announce presence by that well known ga concert which our better 08 6 american mosquitoes 8 thelba g benl to delight in nor do you feel when they light on you in order to help themselves to a lunch you are not aware of the honor before the repast is 18 over and then you will remember it for lays days I 1 think I 1 may say that these mosquitoes which do not even give you a fair chance to kill them are abominable what a plague they must be in the real summer time and what an awful time old pharaoh must have had of it when the dust of egypt was made to yield flies and mosquitoes in superabundance I 1 may also note as something very remarkable that oranges water melons bananas and other kinds of fruit are sold here at this time of the year as in the summer time in salt lake city and the oranges are the best I 1 ever tasted and cheap you can buy 50 oranges for 25 cents it occurs to me that port fort said would be a splendid missionary station and that a young man who would spend some years here and had some means at his disposal bouli do a good work the place I 1 a is as already stated a meeting an fn place for a multitude of nations who have very much need of some religious influence brought to bear upon their daily life besides those who live here permanently numerous travelers pass by every day the statistics for 1887 show that ships passed through the canal of these 2331 were english french german italian dutch 82 austrian and the rest of other nationalities these carried not less than passengers and these passengers always spend some hours on shore so that a missionary would always have a chance by conversations and by distributing tracts to do a work which would in time yield good fruits but he would probably have to have some means at his disposal to commence manee with he might also erect a school for native children where education of course would cave have to be given free thus much good could be accomplished that the native element would prove no barren soil to sow good seed into I 1 think is proved by the fact that they all seem to have a wonderful ability for learning languages it is no uncommon thing to hear bear little dark skinned barefooted dirty urchins in the streets address yu you in french english and italian without any schooling with no knowledge of the complicated rules of grammar which it takes you years to learn and years to forget before you can speak a fo reign foreign tongue properly they have P picked eked up a word here and a word t there here in the streets until they are able to communicate many of their ideas to individuals of three or four different nations surely where such abilities exist much good could be done by proper training and should not the latter day saints hurry with their means and their abilities to hasten on the great work of bringing the world under submission to christ before leaving port said I 1 must state that the press to Is represented here hereby by one papera pepa paper pa a four column quarto which la Is edited in the french langu language e and appears every sunday and thursday thursday its sub price is twenty eight francs a year its political color if it can be so expressed is hatred towards the germans in general and bismarck in particular how it can live X L do not understand considering its high price and poor appearance and now no w au revoir J M S PORT SAM SAID egypt january 16 1889 |
